Hospital/Clinical staff (e.g., Doctors, Nurses, Phlebotomists and other medical practitioners) currently rely heavily on Mobile Medical Carts. These hospital based Mobile Medical Carts are wheeled computer carts with a laptop powered by an expensive re-chargeable battery, a charger, an inverter (to convert DC voltage to AC voltage) and other accessories such as an external monitor, a barcode scanner, a vital signs meter, a barcode printer, a medication cabinet with electronic locking mechanism and other such devices. All of these electronic devices (or equipment) draw a large amount of power from the battery causing the cart to be recharged frequently. Hospital staff move these carts from one patient room to another to access and update patient information, dispense medication, check vital signs and update patient records following EMR (Electronic Medical Records) standards on a daily/hourly basis, and reliance on the Mobile Computer Carts is expected to continue to grow in the future. The expensive batteries used in these Mobile Computer Carts, as their source of primary power, are usually Lithium-ion, Lithium-Phosphate, Lithium Iron Magnesium Phosphate and many other types. Thus, the field of power management with respect to the batteries is becoming increasingly important. Currently, hospitals are moving towards a more electronic methodology as it relates to servicing their patients. However, these same hospitals are struggling with the required power management needed for these electronic tools.
Current power management tools directed at alerting a user of a depleted battery tend to irritate users with loud buzzers and/or alarms. These loud buzzers and/or alarms are simply muted, unplugged, and/or ignored while the mobile cart is left unattended and depleted due to busy hospital staff duties. Thus, the battery of the electronic devices on the mobile cart remains uncharged, and continues to deplete. Typically, when the battery of the hospital mobile cart completely runs out, the device goes into a non-functional mode and all patient information, patient charts, medication administered, very critical time based vital signs (e.g., Blood pressure, Heart Rate, Blood Glucose) are interrupted and not entered into the EMR database on the server violating all industry EMR standard requirements. Alternatively, Hospital staff will note the information on a piece of paper and many times forget to enter the information into the EMR database when power is restored resulting in misdiagnosis of the patent by the doctor and which may sometimes result in heavy lawsuits. Consequently, the battery for the device must be charged for a period of time before the device can be used. Furthermore, allowing the battery of an electronic device to deplete completely on a repeated basis tends to shorten the life of the battery, and typically causes the need to replace the battery. These types of issues impact the number of tools needed to service the patients and can increase the risk of security and possible loss of revenue. Consequently, an effective solution is necessary.
Further, in the document entitled “New Joint Commission alert addresses medical device alarm safety in hospitals” and its addendum (www.jointcommission.org), the author reports the constant beeping of alarms and an overabundance of information transmitted by medical devices such as ventilators, blood pressure monitors and ECG machines is creating “alarm fatigue” that puts hospital patients at serious risk. The Joint Commission Alert urges leaders at hospitals to take a focused look at this serious patient safety issue.
Additionally, in the document entitled “Sounding the Alarm on . . . well . . . Alarms” (Healthcare Journal of Baton Rouge www.healthcarejournalbr.com), the author reports that in areas that care for the critically ill, it can seem that alarms are sounding constantly. However, the sheer number of alarms, sometimes hundreds per patient, per day, can not only be mentally distracting, but can also make it impossible to hear some alarms, lead to burnout responding to alarms, or cause desensitization to alarms, a condition known as “alarm fatigue.” Customization of alarms can go a long way towards reducing meaningless alarms, false positives, and unnecessary noise.
Thus, there is a need for an improved alerting system and method for monitoring remaining battery charge levels and detecting when battery charge levels are low. Today hospital staff can be confused between all kinds of medical devices that send alerts by beeping, but the staff doesn't know what the “beep” means. So, a customized alerting solution that does not beep, but provides soothing human voice alerts explaining the reason for the alert, is in need. One aim of the present invention is to provide a system and method for monitoring battery charge levels and a method for customizing alarms. Specifically, the present invention discloses a Talking Power Management Utility (TPMU) program for monitoring remaining battery charge levels and placing the device in a detect and protect mode when the device's remaining battery charge level is low. The TPMU program instructs the mobile computer cart with a depleted battery to enter into a proprietary detect and protect mode, effectively elongating the life of the battery and reducing cost for replacement. This hardware and software solution also detects the battery charge levels and alerts the user proactively with a soothing alert that is customizable by a user and comprises computer generated human voice messages accompanied by visual characters and/or video animations; and wherein the battery charge level for the device is monitored for a past period of time with an intelligent proprietary algorithm to determine if a battery is strong or weak and the selected level is updated based on this determination. These alerts can be applied to any electronic device that requires power management and will work in conjunction with any type of battery. This product is ideal for use in administrative and medical/hospital businesses in mobile computer carts that require power management. The TPMU program provides users with an efficient device and method for monitoring remaining battery charge levels and detecting when battery charge levels are dangerously low.